


Lumeria's Light

by SilverHeart09



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Thasmin if you squint, bit of whump too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 16:45:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16496381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverHeart09/pseuds/SilverHeart09
Summary: The TARDIS decides that where the fam really needs to be is in a village in Devon where a strange energy signal has caught its attention.Featuring Thirteen/Yaz cuddles (cause why not), Ryan's continuing annoyance of ladders, Graham being the protective dad he is, the TARDIS being a diva, and also moles.





	Lumeria's Light

Yaz was thrown out of her chair abruptly, crashing onto the floor and banging her elbow as the TARDIS lurched forward. She could feel the ship powering up beneath her feet, could feel the turbulence as it raced through the time vortex. She could hear Graham and the Doctor yelling somewhere and caught the sound of panicked feet racing in the corridor outside. 

Yaz pulled herself up and threw open the door, hurrying through the ship to the console room where the Doctor was frantically pulling levers and flipping switches, one foot up on the console as she tried to steady the blue box.

‘What’s going on?’ Yaz yelled.

‘Dunno!’ the Doctor yelled back. ‘Something’s caught the TARDIS’s attention and apparently it’s very important that we get there right now extremely quickly.’

The ship lurched again and Yaz tripped and almost went flying, the Doctor grabbing her by the arm to steady her. 

‘Hold onto the console, Yaz,’ she said. ‘This is going to be a bumpy landing.’

Once the ship was still, the Doctor checked the console and frowned at it.

‘Earth, 2019, UK, around midday, we’re in some village in Devon.’

She bounded down to the doors and opened them, peered outside, then bounded back to the console and stared at the readout. 

‘Not sure why getting here was so important,’ the Doctor said, and Yaz had the distinct feeling that she was talking to the TARDIS. She frowned at the console. ‘Why have you put the dampening fields up…?’

Then there came a beeping sound and the strange circular shapes appeared on the display. They meant nothing to Yaz, but the Doctor suddenly seemed very interested.

‘Ooh that’s bad, that’s very bad,’ she said. ‘What  _ is  _ that?’

‘You asking us? Cause I dunno either,’ Graham said, shrugging at the screen.

‘Is it like last time?’ Ryan asked. ‘Is it artron energy?’

‘No,’ the Doctor said. ‘It’s something else. Similar though, well not really, but similar in the respect that whatever that is really shouldn’t be here.’

‘We going to investigate?’ Yaz asked.

‘Yep,’ the Doctor replied. ‘It’s probably going to be dangerous though.’

‘You eat danger for breakfast,’ Yaz reminded her. ‘ _ And  _ cereal.’

The Doctor grinned. 

* * *

The village was quiet and empty as the four of them made their way through it, the Doctor holding the Sonic Screwdriver aloft and frowning at the display. ‘Whatever it is, the Sonic is finding it difficult to track,’ she told them.

‘Where is everyone?’ Graham asked. ‘This place is deserted.’

‘It reminds me of Ledworth,’ the Doctor said with a shiver.

Church bells rang out through the square and the Doctor looked back at her companions. ‘Might as well start there!’ she said. ‘Someone must be in to ring those bells.’

It turned out to be a priest in the church ringing the bells. It was a sunny day outside but the lights in the church were all on and the priest seemed surprised to see them. 

‘Good afternoon,’ he said. ‘I don’t get many visitors but you’re very welcome. Do you seek spiritual guidance?’

‘I don’t think so,’ the Doctor said, scrunching her face. 

‘You’re from Yorkshire!’ the priest exclaimed. ‘Bit of a trek for you to come all the way down here.’

‘Yorkshire?’ the Doctor said, confused. 

‘You do sound a bit northern,’ Yaz whispered. 

‘Oh, well, my friends and I are just down for the day, just having a look around really. Why is it so quiet?’

‘Everyone is at work and the children are at school,’ the priest said. ‘The majority of my congregation will be taking their afternoon naps at this point, I’d imagine.’

‘What day is it?’ Graham asked, confusing the priest even more.

‘Why it’s a Thursday,’ he said. ‘Are you feeling okay, sir?’

‘Oh yeah, just always get my days mixed up,’ Graham said, waving his hand nonchalantly. ‘Never could get the hang of Thursdays.’

Ryan, who understood the  _ Hitchhiker’s  _ reference, gave Graham an appreciative nod. 

‘Why are all the lights on?’ the Doctor asked, looking around. ‘It’s very bright in here.’

‘Oh. we’ve been having trouble with the electronics for weeks now,’ the priest said. ‘They’re on constantly, we can’t seem to turn them off!’

The Doctor pulled her psychic paper out of her pocket and waved it at him. ‘We’re from the electric company then,’ she said. ‘Need to take a look at your fuse box.’

‘Of course,’ the priest said. ‘Come this way.’

‘Better find us somewhere to stay, Yaz,’ the Doctor whispered. ‘I have a feeling we’re going to be here for a while.’

‘On it,’ Yaz replied, pulling her phone out her pocket and stepping outside.

The electric box was, perhaps haphazardly, located next to a large bucket of water. 

‘There’s a leak in the roof,’ the priest apologised, gesturing upwards. ‘We’re raising funds to get it repaired.’

‘It’s not raining though,’ Graham pointed out. 

‘The water pools,’ the priest said. ‘Comes down bit by bit, every day.’

‘None of this make any sense,’ the Doctor said, staring at the electric box and poking the wires with the sonic screwdriver. ‘Half of these aren’t even connected up, how do you still have power?’

‘I’m afraid I couldn’t say,’ the priest said. ‘Let’s call it divine intervention.’

The Doctor shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘This isn’t divine intervention, this is something else.’

She checked the reading on the sonic. ‘There’s something big powering this church. Not necessarily big in size but big in power. That and the weird energy signals the TARDIS picked up…’ she tapped the sonic against the side of her head as she pondered. 

‘You must get pretty big energy bills,’ Ryan said. ‘If you can’t turn the lights off.’

The priest shook his head. ‘We’ve never received one,’ he said. ‘I’ve phoned up the company but as far as they’re concerned, we don’t use any power.’

He frowned. ‘But you should know that, you said you’re from the electric company?’

There was a small splash from behind them as a drop of water dropped down from the ceiling and landed in the bucket.

The priest sighed. ‘It’s fortunate too, all our money is needed to repair the roof.’

‘Can’t you fix it with that screwdriver, Doc?’ Graham asked.

She shook her head absentmindedly. ‘It doesn’t do wood.’

‘Found us a place,’ Yaz said, coming back into the church and waving her phone. ‘Old groundskeeper’s cottage a couple of streets over. It’s only small but we can have it for as long as we want.’

‘Sounds perfect,’ the Doctor said, snapping out of her reverie and tucking the sonic back into her coat pocket. ‘Great work, Yaz. Let’s go fam.’

‘Thanks for your help,’ Graham said to the priest. ‘We’ll let you know if we hear anything.’

‘About what?’ the priest asked.

‘Dunno,’ Graham replied. ‘Anything in general I spose.’

* * *

The groundskeeper’s cottage was tiny. It consisted of an open plan living room and kitchen, a poky bedroom and a tiny bathroom that only had a bath, no shower.

‘This is cosy,’ Ryan said. 

‘And freezing,’ Yaz complained, rubbing her arms for warmth.

‘Didn’t you kids go to scouts or something?’ Graham asked. ‘There’s some firewood there, I can get a fire going if anyone’s got a light.’

The Doctor handed him the sonic and sat down at the kitchen table, tugging on the ends of her hair.

‘I feel like I’m missing something,’ she said. ‘I feel like I already know what’s going on but my brain hasn’t caught up yet.’

‘So it doesn’t do wood but it can start a fire?’ Graham asked, incredulously.

‘Just point and press, Graham,’ the Doctor said, rummaging around in her pockets. She came up with a single AA battery and stared at it. ‘You know what’s going on, don’t you?’

‘Are you talking to the battery, Doctor?’ Ryan asked. ‘Are you feeling alright?’

‘Coffee,’ the Doctor said, dropping the battery onto the table. ‘That’s what we need. Coffee and a biscuit.’

‘There’s a corner shop on the end of the street,’ Yaz said. She’d been inspecting the insides of the cupboards but they were empty, other than the occasional spider or cobweb. ‘I can pop over there, grab some dinner.’

‘I’ll go with you,’ Ryan said. ‘You two want anything?’

‘Coffee.’

‘Anything to eat, I mean.’

The Doctor looked at him quizzically. ‘... coffee?’

‘I’ll get you a sandwich,’ he told her, and left with Yaz.

There was a whirr and then a fizz and a pop as Graham used the sonic to get the fire started. 

‘Ooh that’s lovely that is,’ he said, rubbing his hands in front of it. ‘You warm enough, Doc?’

‘Hmm,’ she said, tapping her chin.

‘Your head’s in the clouds today,’ he said. ‘We need to sort out the sleeping arrangements, only one bed in there.’ He rummaged through some of the cupboards and produced an air bed and some old sleeping bags. ‘This’ll do for someone, I bet there’s a pump around somewhere to blow it up, unless the sonic can do that too?’

But the Doctor didn’t answer. She’d picked up the battery and was staring intently at it again. 

‘I’ll look for a pump,’ Graham said. 

* * *

‘So what do you think is going on then?’ Graham asked once they were all seated on the dusty sofa in front of the fire, tucking into Pot Noodles.

‘The TARDIS tracked an energy source here,’ the Doctor said. ‘A powerful one, powerful enough that the TARDIS thought it was something we should look into, which probably means it has extreme destructive powers, which is bad. It’s somewhere in this village, whatever it is, but I can’t seem to track it, the energy signal its giving out is nothing like I’ve ever encountered before.’

She tapped her fork against the side of her Pot Noodle thoughtfully. ‘Thing is though,’ she said, ‘I think I already know what it is. I think part of me is trying to tell the other part to stop being so stupid and remember…’

‘Remember what?’ Ryan asked.

‘I’ve heard about this before,’ the Doctor said. ‘A story, a fable on my planet. One of those annoying “your actions have consequences” things. An energy source with a signal you can’t trace, something so powerful it would distract a TARDIS mid-flight, something that was stolen…’

She snapped her fingers suddenly and her eyes went wide. ‘That’s it! It was stolen!’

The Doctor jumped up and started pacing the room, hands making shapes manically in the air, muttering enthusiastically to herself. 

‘It’s not a fluke, it’s the real thing, we  _ know  _ it works. There’s only three of them in the galaxy. Two were destroyed and the other went missing which means it  _ has to be…’  _

She stopped pacing and her head shot up, she grinned. ‘I’ve got it,’ she said. ‘I’ve solved it. Ryan, I need you to go to the chur…’

Then an energy blast came shooting through the window and hit her in the side of her head. She fell like a tree, taking a chair down with her and landing with a  _ crack  _ on the cobbled floors.

‘Doctor!’ Yaz yelled. 

‘Stay with her, Yaz!’ Graham shouted, ‘me and Ryan will check the street!’

‘That doesn’t sound like a good idea!’ Ryan complained, feeling obliged to follow Graham as he ran outside.

The street outside was empty and pitch black. 

‘What happened to the…?’

The street lamps along the road flickered back into life, but unfortunately revealed nothing except a cat chasing a moth along the side of the road and a few pigeons flying back to their nests.

‘The lamps were out? Why were the lamps out?’ Ryan asked, staring up at them.

‘Never mind that,’ Graham said. ‘What was the Doc about to say? She wants you to go to the  _ chur _ ?’

‘I dunno,’ Ryan said, peering around him, trying to see further in the blackness. He had an eerie feeling as though someone was still there, watching silently from the shadows.

‘Come on,’ Graham said. ‘There’s nothing out here, let’s get back inside and make sure she’s okay.’

The Doctor was still on the floor when they got back into the cottage, but Yaz had rolled her over and was pressing a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea-towel against her head.

‘She was shot on the other side, wasn’t she?’ Ryan asked, pointing to the wound which had caused a red energy burn on the side of her blond head.

‘She landed on this one though,’ Yaz said. ‘Double whammy.’

‘Is she alright?’ Graham asked, kneeling down next to her and pressing his fingers against her slim wrist. ‘There was an awful noise.’

‘That was the chair,’ Yaz said, pointing. ‘She fell on it, the leg snapped off.’

The Doctor moaned and Graham squeezed her hand. ‘It’s all right, love,’ he said. ‘Just stay there for a sec, get your bearings.’

Graham tucked a cushion under her head and Ryan locked the front door, pushing on it firmly to make sure it wouldn’t open. 

‘What do we do now?’ he asked. 

Graham straightened up. ‘We put the kettle on,’ he said, ‘and we wait for Sleeping Beauty here to wake up.’

* * *

The Doctor woke up loudly ten minutes later with a large groan.

‘Urgh,’ she said. ‘Was I out with Freddie last night?’

‘Freddie?’ Yaz asked, confused.

‘Mercury. Now that guy knows how to party.’

The Doctor tried and failed to push herself up. Ryan and Graham lifted her off the floor with an arm under each armpit and deposited her gently on the sofa. Ryan pushed a cup of tea into her hand and they all sat around her.

‘You alright, Doc?’ Graham asked.

The Doctor drained her tea and handed it back to Ryan. ‘Could I have some more?’ she asked pleadingly. ‘That burst fried my synapses. Five tea bags okay?’

‘In one cup?’

‘Yes.’

Ryan looked a bit incredulous but went back into the kitchen to refill it. 

‘What were you saying?’ Graham asked. ‘Where did you want Ryan to go?’

‘To the church, but it’s too late now,’ the Doctor said. ‘He was listening, that’s why he shot me. He’ll have got it by now and be long gone.’

She pressed her hands to either side of her head and rubbed her duel injuries.

‘Man that smarts,’ she said. ‘There was something cold… where’s the cold thing gone?’

Yaz handed her the bag of peas and she pressed it against her head again. 

‘Who was listening? Got what?’ Yaz asked.

Ryan returned with her refilled tea.

‘With five tea bags, you nutter,’ he said. ‘I also got you a biscuit.’

Yaz replaced the Doctor’s hand in holding the bag of peas and she beamed.

‘Oh, Ryan.’ The Doctor took them both out of his hands, excitedly dipping the biscuit into the tea then eating it in one go. She sipped this tea slower and sighed happily.

‘All right, story time,’ she said, tucking her legs underneath her on the sofa. ‘I don’t feel good by the way,’ she added as an afterthought. 

‘You’re probably in shock,’ Yaz said. She grabbed the Doctor’s coat from the back of the chair and tucked it around her shoulders. ‘Better?’

‘Yes, thanks Yaz. Right, this is a bit of a long one so make sure you’re listening. About 500,000 years ago there was a planet called Brelium, a race called the Sterran lived there. Crafty bunch, stole loads of stuff and passed it off as their own. Entire planet was full of markets, people would come from all across the galaxy to buy extremely rare stuff at extremely inflated prices. Except one day, they stole something they shouldn’t have from someone they  _ really  _ shouldn’t have stolen it from.’

‘What was it?’ Ryan asked.

‘Ssh!’ Yaz replied. ‘Don’t interrupt.’

‘It was a battery. But not just your bog standard AAA. This battery will power anything in the universe for eternity. May even power the TARDIS at a pinch. Impossible to put a price on. I’m not just talking about a car or even a city’s national grid. I’m talking about an  _ entire planet.  _ And that’s what it was being used for when it was stolen.  You can take the bag of peas off my head now, Yaz. My ear has gone numb. Thanks. There was three of them, all plugged into generators on three sister planets. The Sterran’s stole a battery from the third planet and the other two went after them to get it back. Except that by doing that they left their planets undefended, and they were destroyed.’

‘The whole planet?’ Ryan asked. 

The Doctor nodded gravely. ‘Those batteries were the envy of the galaxy. Hundreds of malicious species went after it when they knew the planets were defenceless. They, along with the batteries, were destroyed.’

‘What about the people?’ Yaz asked. ‘What about the families on those planets?’

The Doctor shook her head sadly.

‘Jesus,’ Graham said. ‘All that for batteries.’

‘Batteries that have the power to save civilisations,’ the Doctor said. ‘Desperate people do desperate things.’

‘So two were destroyed, where’s the third?’ Yaz asked. ‘Is it still on Bulium?’

_ ‘Brelium.  _ No. After the other two planets were destroyed the Sterran’s realised how important this battery was and the lengths people would go to get it. Fearing their own destruction, they took the battery and they got rid of it.’

‘Where?’ Ryan asked.

‘The Church!’ Graham yelled, making them shout. ‘That’s why you wanted Ryan to go there. The vicar said the church’s wirings were shot, they couldn’t get the power to turn off and they were worried because they’d never received an electric bill. It was the battery wasn’t it? The battery was powering the church!’

The Doctor nodded. ‘I think so. I also don’t think it ended up on Earth by accident. Someone brought it here on purpose.’

‘But why just the church?’ Yaz asked. ‘If it was powering planets before?’ 

‘No-one would think to look in a church,’ the Doctor said. ‘As hiding places go, it isn’t bad.’

‘You said that was 500,000 years ago though, Doc,’ Graham said. ‘Why is it suddenly appearing now?’

‘They probably thought it was safe to start trying to get rid of it,’ the Doctor said. ‘They must have hidden it somewhere when they first stole it, gave up on the idea of trying to sell it because of all the attention they’d drawn to themselves. And now, 500,000 years later, they’re trying to sell it.’

‘It must have a long shelf-life,’ Graham said, shocked.

‘It’s infinite,’ the Doctor said. ‘If the stories are true. That battery is older than me, older than most things in the galaxy, and it will be here long after we’re all gone.’

‘How did it suddenly end up in the church, though?’ Yaz asked.

The Doctor frowned. ‘I’m not sure,’ she said. She shook her head. ‘I don’t think it’s there any more though. Whoever was out there tonight heard me. They shot me to shut me up so they could get to it first.’

She pondered the implications of this for a second. ‘Which means whoever is out there didn’t know where the battery was. They were waiting for me to lead them to it.’

‘So someone else planted it,’ Graham said. The Doctor nodded.

‘But why?’ Yaz asked. ‘Why would you go to the trouble of bringing it all the way here just to hide it in a church? How did it end up on Earth in the first place?’

‘My guess would be that the Sterrans had a buyer lined up and they chose Earth as mutual territory,’ the Doctor said. ‘They hid the battery in the church, but something must have gone wrong. The buyer showed up but the Sterrans weren’t there so they didn't know where the battery was. Then I led them right to it.’

‘I really wish aliens would stop using Earth as ground zero for stuff we want nothing to do with,’ Graham said, crossly. 

‘So we’re back at square one?’ Ryan asked.

‘Not necessarily,’ the Doctor said. ‘Now I know what it is I’ll be able to find it easier. I can use the TARDIS to track it.’

She sprung off the sofa then fell back onto it, suddenly looking very pale.

‘Maybe not tonight though,’ she said. ‘It can wait till the morning. He can’t go anywhere tonight anyway. The TARDIS dampening field is still up. Even if he knows how to use the battery, he won’t be able to get off planet. Everyone get a good night’s rest and we’ll reconvene in the morning.’

Graham nodded. ‘Sounds like a great idea,’ he said. ‘You ladies have the bedroom, Ryan and I will stay in here.’

‘Actually,’ the Doctor said, peering out the window. ‘Just to be safe, the three of you take the bedroom and I’ll stay in here.’

‘Not by yourself!’ Yaz protested. ‘You’ve taken a hit to both sides of the head. I’m staying with you,’ she added firmly.

* * *

Yaz woke up in the pitch black with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She sat up but could see nothing in the darkness and it was eerily quiet. Ever since travelling with the Doctor she’d been having weird dreams. The aliens they’d encountered, situations Yaz would have thought it was impossible to get into. This evening, however, she’d dreamt of tiny black eyes, peering at her, something crawling towards her out of the gloom.

‘Doctor,’ she said quietly. 

There was no response, and Yaz groped blindly for her phone. Clicking the screen she saw it was 3am, she held it up and used it to illuminate the room. 

The Doctor was lying on her side on the airbed Graham had found in the cupboard, not moving. 

The feeling hit Yaz’s stomach again. 

‘Doctor,’ she hissed more urgently.

The Doctor reached up her ear and rolled over. She’d had headphones in and was listening to Ryan’s iPod, Yaz saw.

‘Yes, Yaz?’ she said. 

‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes, Yaz.’

‘Can I join you?’

The Doctor pushed herself up onto her elbows and regarded her carefully in the light of the phone. 

‘You alright?’

Yaz nodded. ‘I feel weird.’

The Doctor moved up on the airbed and patted the side next to her.

‘What’s going on? You okay?’ the Doctor whispered when Yaz had climbed on next to her and they were lying on their sides facing each other. 

‘Yeah, I just had a weird feeling,’ Yaz said.

‘Don’t ignore those,’ the Doctor said. ‘Those are important. What was the feeling?’

‘Dunno, it’s hard to describe,’ Yaz said. ‘Probably just a bad dream. Don’t you sleep?’

‘Nah, too much stuff to do. I’d be doing stuff right now if I could but need to keep an eye on you lot.’

‘Have you heard anything?’ Yaz asked. ‘From outside I mean?’

The Doctor shook her head. ‘Only animals. Whoever was out there earlier, they’ve long gone.’

‘And how’s your head?’

The Doctor raised a hand to it gingerly. ‘Sore, but okay. I’ll survive. You need to sleep, Yaz.’

‘It’s too quiet out here,’ Yaz said. ‘I’m used to the city noises. It’s like something out of a horror movie, this place.’

‘You’d be surprised how many villages like this have aliens, Yaz,’ the Doctor said. ‘Tiny place like this? Easy to fit in.’

‘What’s your planet like?’ Yaz asked. ‘Is it noisy like Sheffield or quiet like this place?’

The Doctor froze, and Yaz started to regret asking the question, but then she felt her relax. 

‘Bit of both,’ the Doctor said. ‘The citadel was loud, everyone bustling about under that giant glass dome. I grew up on the outskirts though, much quieter round there. Spent most of my childhood on a farm believe it or not.’

‘I can’t picture you as a kid,’ Yaz said.

‘I was cute,’ the Doctor told her.

Yaz yawned and the Doctor playfully nudged her. ‘Bed time for you,’ she said. 

‘Can I stay on this airbed with you?’ Yaz asked, quietly. ‘I feel safer with you.’

The Doctor’s face softened and she pulled the blanket off the sofa and tucked it over the two of them.

‘Go on then,’ she said. ‘Since you asked nicely.’ 

She tucked Ryan’s headphones back into her ears and Yaz curled up inside the blanket. The fire was going out but the room was cosy and the Doctor was warm. She closed her eyes and fell asleep listening to the Doctor humming what sounded an awful lot like Chattanooga Choo Choo. 

* * *

When Yaz woke up in the morning she could hear quiet voices coming from the kitchen. The Doctor was gone from the airbed and Yaz sat up and stretched, reaching high into the air and feeling the soothing burn through her arms.

Graham and Ryan were both stood in the small kitchenette making scrambled eggs. Yaz smelt coffee too and she clambered out of her sleeping bag to join them at the small table.

‘Doc’s gone for a walk,’ Graham said, head gesturing towards the door as he piled eggs onto her plate.

‘Did you ladies enjoy your sleepover?’ Ryan asked, teasingly. ‘You looked proper cuddled up when we came in this morning.’

‘We were listening to music,’ Yaz said, already regretting dignifying his question with a response.

‘Hey, no need to get defensive with me, it takes all sorts to make a world.’

Yaz shot him a withering stare and tucked into her eggs, pulling her phone out and absentmindedly checking her messages. 

There was a creaking sound as the door opened and the Doctor stepped back into the cottage. She shrugged her coat off and hung it up, Yaz saw that both it and her hair were wet.

‘Raining hamsters and dragons out there,’ she said, sitting down next to Ryan and grabbing some eggs.

‘Cats and dogs,’ Graham corrected her. She waved her fork at him and carried on shoveling her breakfast into her mouth. 

‘Where did you go?’ Ryan asked.

‘Church,’ the Doctor replied round a mouthful of eggs. 

She swallowed her food and pointed her fork at him.

‘I was right,’ she said. ‘The battery has been taken. All the power in the church is out. I managed to get it going with the sonic but they’re going to have to get the electricians in if they want it to last.’

She poured herself a large cup of coffee and gulped it all in one go. ‘Need to head back to the TARDIS to try and track it, whoever took it can’t leave so they must still be close by.’

She poured another cup of coffee and downed that too, she went for a third but Yaz put her hand over the cup.

‘That’s enough,’ she said firmly. 

The Doctor pouted at her.

‘So what’s the plan for today then, Doc?’ Graham asked. ‘Back to the TARDIS, trace the battery, find whoever stole it, back in home for tea?’

‘Essentially,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘And hope that whoever the buyer is that took the battery isn’t hostile. I doubt he’s going to want to just give it up without a fight. He’s probably going to be a bit miffed we’ve stranded him here too.’

* * *

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor rigged up a tracking device to search for the battery. It seemed to be a very complicated process involving meters of wiring, soldering, setting it on fire (whether this was on purpose or not Ryan wasn’t sure), putting the fire out, creating a microchip then enclosing it in a metal casing, setting it on fire again (this time it was definitely an accident) and sonicing it a few times for good measure.

Thoroughly covered in oil, hair singed and a bit cross, the Doctor pressed the tracking device into Yaz’s hands and dashed off to wash and change her t-shirt, returning five minutes later with a go-ahead bar, munching it as they stepped outside the TARDIS. The Doctor soniced her tracking device and it beeped a few times, then began to flash steadily. 

‘Right then fam, this way,’ she said, and started marching off, tracking device held out in front of her.

‘You say “fam” doesn’t work but then you say it all the time,’ Yaz said, catching up with her.

‘It’s cause you are, my fam I mean, and also I can’t get it out my head,’ the Doctor replied, frowning at the metal box then looking down at her boots. ‘Apparently we have to go down here?’

Yaz looked down at the manhole cover they were standing on.

‘Oh no, I don’t want to go into the sewer.’

The Doctor crouched down and held the box over the cover, it started to beep frantically.

‘Sorry, Yaz,’ she said apologetically. ‘Whoever has the battery, he’s down here.’ She pulled the cover off and peered down into the dark, there was a ladder leading downwards into the sewer and Yaz heard Ryan muttering crossly under his breath. 

‘Right,’ the Doctor said, rolling her sleeves up. ‘Let’s get a shift on.’

* * *

The inside of the sewer smelt about as bad as you’d expect and Yaz was grateful she was wearing proper boots and not her trainers or Vans. Ryan on the other hand  _ was  _ wearing trainers and she could still hear him complaining about it as they made their way through the dark. The Doctor had produced a mini-torch from the bottomless pits of her pockets but it wasn’t very powerful and the lights lining the walls of the sewer were out, plunging the four of them in near-total darkness.

‘It’s like last night,’ Yaz realised. ‘When whoever it was that shot you turned up, the lights in the street went out.’

‘Did they?’ the Doctor said, surprised. 

‘Yeah, you were a bit out of it though,’ Yaz said. ‘Ryan and Graham went outside and all the streetlights were off.’

‘You went outside?’ the Doctor said crossly, spinning around to face the two men.

‘Well yeah!’ Graham protested. ‘We wanted to have a few choice words with whoever it was that shot you! You would have done the same.’

‘That’s different,’ the Doctor said, pointing the tracking device at them. ‘I’m an alien from another planet with no sense of personal safety and a back-up option if I’m mortally wounded, you two are all squidgy stuff and bones and you’re all soft.’ She waved her arms at them, trying to make a point. ‘Sometimes I feel like I should just wrap you up in bubble wrap.’

‘Me nan always said that,’ Ryan grudgingly agreed.

‘Interesting what you said about the lights though, Yaz,’ the Doctor said. ‘A species that prefers the dark... ‘

The tracking device started to buzz furiously in the Doctor’s hands and they looked down at it.

‘We’re close, we’re really close,’ the Doctor said. ‘Stick together now. No wandering off.’

They trekked through the rest of the tunnel in silence until they reached a gigantic cavern. It was dark in here too, but Yaz could just about make out the shape of a ship taking up most of the room and could hear someone moving about inside.

The Doctor turned her light off and tucked the tracking device back into her pocket, edging quietly against the wall. The other three followed her lead and they crept into the room. There wasn’t anywhere to hide, the walls were smooth with no gaps or crevices to duck into but whoever was on the ship didn't seem to hear them. They could hear him muttering, hitting things, frustrated noises as the TARDIS’s dampening field stopped the ship from powering up.

_ ‘Why won’t you work,’  _ they heard him say, and the Doctor took that as her cue.

‘That’d be me,’ she said, straightening up and marching towards the ship, Yaz, Graham and Ryan reluctantly following.

‘He did shoot you last time,’ Graham muttered under his breath. 

There was a crash and a small creature, about the size of a child, jumped out of the ship with a gun, pointing it squarely at the Doctor’s face.

‘Oh come on put it  _ down,’  _ the Doctor said angrily. ‘You can’t just shoot everything! You’re just like Ed Sheeran!’ 

Yaz rolled her eyes, she didn't see the point in correcting her at this point. 

‘Who are you?’ the creature demanded. ‘Why won’t my ship start?’

‘I’m the Doctor, these are my three best friends, Yaz, Ryan and Graham,’ the Doctor said, throwing her arm back to indicate the three humans. ‘My ship brought us here to find the battery and created a dampening field so no other ships could take off, that’s why you can’t leave.’

‘What battery?’ the creature asked, stammering. ‘I don’t have a battery?’

In response, the Doctor took her homemade tracking device out of her pocket and pointed it at him, the device started flashing and beeping and generally made a lot of noise.

‘You do have the battery,’ the Doctor said, tucking the device back into her pocket. ‘And we’re going to need to know where you’re taking it, and what you want it for. And put that gun down I can see it’s on “stun”. If you wanted to kill me you could have done it last night.’

The creature lowered the gun slowly and sighed. It resembled a large mole, Graham realised, now his eyes had adjusted to the gloom. It was covered completely in black fur and had a utility belt around its waist. It also, he realised, sounded distinctly female.

‘Who are you?’ the Doctor asked, tone a bit more gentle now there wasn’t a gun in her face.

‘My name is Corax,’ the mole said. ‘I’m from Panoram 9 in the Bromaxium Star Cluster. I arranged to meet up with a Sterran from Brelium to purchase the battery, he’d already hidden it here in the church and was going to meet me in orbit and take me to it, but his ship suffered a malfunction and was burnt up in the atmosphere with him on board. I traced the energy signal to this village but couldn’t work out where the battery was. Then I saw you four and realised you were looking for it too so I waited for you to lead me to it.’

She looked down at her feet, which were large paws with long nails. ‘I’m sorry I shot you,’ she said quietly. ‘I was listening in and when I realised you knew where it was I had to get there first.’

‘Why?’ the Doctor asked. ‘Why do you need it so badly?’ She sounded less angry than before, and Yaz knew she recognised desperation when she heard it.

‘We find it difficult on my planet to produce enough energy to sustain life. We don’t have a sun like your planet. Our planet is in constant darkness so we’ve evolved with an aversion to light, it isn’t warm but we have thick coats so we don’t mind. We grow vegetables and food with luna energy, my planet has five moons, however it’s also moving further into the Star Cluster every year, away from the moons, so we’re unable to grow food. We also use the moons to generate heat. We’re not used to a particularly hot climate, but we need some warmth.’

Corax looked up at the Doctor, fear in her eyes. ‘My species is going extinct,’ she said. ‘I have four pups I’m trying to raise. I’ve already lost three litters, I don’t think my babies will survive the winter. With the battery my planet would be saved.’

‘What happened to the planet the battery was on originally?’ Graham asked. ‘The one the Sterran’s stole it from?’

‘The planet isn’t there anymore,’ Corax said. ‘It happened so long ago now I couldn’t tell you for certain what happened, but the story goes that after the other two planets were destroyed the people on Lumeria evacuated. The power was out, the planet was plunged into darkness, they couldn’t grow food or run hospitals or warm homes. They scattered amongst the stars.’

‘Lumeria…’ the Doctor breathed. ‘All the stories I heard about it never mentioned its name.’

‘I only know because the Sterran told me,’ Corax said. ‘He said that the planet wasn’t there anymore, it vanished from the  galaxy. People think it fell into a black hole.’

‘I can’t believe that 500,000 years later people remember all these details,’ Ryan said, shocked. ‘Think of human history 500,000 years ago! The planet was covered in dinosaurs.’

‘Not quite, Ryan,’ the Doctor said. ‘Dinosaurs roamed the earth 66 million years ago. 500,000 years ago you were all cavemen, more or less.’

‘But still, all that time in the future,’ Graham protested. 

‘It was a massacre,’ Corax said. ‘All three planets destroyed over a battery. They weren’t willing to share their technology, when one battery was stolen the other two left their planets completely defenceless, they were blinded by rage. All those people dead because of greed.’

‘You said you learnt it as a fable, Doctor,’ Yaz said quietly. ‘You said it taught you that actions had consequences.’

‘It’s a warning,’ Corax said quietly. ‘Don’t let history repeat itself.’

‘What did you pay for it?’ the Doctor asked. ‘What did you offer the Sterrans in return for that battery?’

‘Regular trade,’ Corax said. ‘Between my people, and others in the star cluster, and Brelium. Their planet is in just a bad state as mine. After other planets heard what they’d done they stopped trading with them, they cut them off. Brelium reached out to us, they knew we were in trouble and they offered to help.’

‘They’re learning from their mistakes,’ Yaz said. ‘All this time later, they’re trying to fix it.’

‘So, Doctor,’ Corax said, taking a breath. ‘I guess the important question is, will you let me keep it?’

There was a pause.

The Doctor was stood still, looking down at her feet as she thought, hair falling into her face. She was tapping the sonic against her leg and Ryan fancied he could see the cogs of her brain moving.

‘Can I see it?’ she said after a while. ‘Can I see the battery?’

Corax reached a paw into her utility belt and dropped it into the Doctor’s hand.

Ryan, Yaz and Graham gathered round and stared at it. It was tiny, a cylinder that was only 2 inches long, if that. It glowed golden and pulsated in the Doctor’s hand.

‘That’s it,’ Yaz said. ‘That’s the battery the universe was fighting over. The one that has the power to save planets and destroy civilizations.’

‘This is it,’ the Doctor said, quietly. 

‘I feel like this is a Lord of the Rings moment,’ Ryan said. ‘Like we’re all staring at the One Ring.’

‘Who do you think gave Tolkien that idea?’ the Doctor asked.

‘That battery will save my planet,’ Corax said softly. ‘It will give us warm and light and food. It will save my children so the death of their siblings won’t be in vain. Panoram 9 will have new life again.’

‘Doctor,’ Yaz said quietly, nudging the Doctor’s hand with her own. ‘What are you going to do?’

The Doctor sighed and looked at Yaz. With the light of the battery illuminating her face in the dark and brightening the blond of her hair she looked like some kind of angel. ‘What would you do, Yaz?’ she asked. ‘If you came all this way trying to save your people. If you were willing to shoot a stranger to stop them getting to it first, if you had a family you had to protect and one person stood between you and your salvation, what would you do?’

‘She didn't hurt you though,’ Yaz said. ‘She explained everything, she made her case.’

‘Yes,’ the Doctor replied. ‘She did. And what does that tell you about her?’

‘She’s desperate, not violent.’

‘So what would you do?’

‘I don’t understand.’

The Doctor tipped the battery into Yaz’s palm. ‘Let me rephrase then,’ she said, eyes shining. ‘You know me, Yaz. What would I do?’ 

‘You’d give it to her,’ Yaz whispered, clutching the battery tightly, feeling its warmth and power in her skin. 

The Doctor nodded her head so slightly Yaz isn’t sure anyone else saw. Yaz walked over to Corax, who was stood with terror on her face, yet her hand wasn’t near her weapon, it was clutched at her chest, right over her heart. 

Yaz held Corax’s paw and opened her palm, dropping the battery into it and wrapping her fingers around the casing. ‘I think you’ve earnt this,’ she said quietly. 

‘I’ll drop the dampening field from my ship,’ the Doctor said. ‘You’ll be able to leave.’

Corax started sobbing and Yaz squeezed her paw tightly. 

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I can’t begin to tell you how much this means to me.’

‘One other thing,’ the Doctor said, a tinge of steel entering her voice. ‘Earth is not ground zero for alien transactions. Next time you trade an item wanted by half the universe, choose a deserted asteroid or a moon. Not this planet.’ 

Corax looked slightly taken aback, but she nodded and gripped the battery even tighter in her paw.

* * *

Trudging back through the sewer to get to the TARDIS the Doctor was quiet, the only sound in the tunnel being Ryan complaining about his shoes getting covered in muck.

‘Will it be safe with her?’ Graham asked. 

‘Not sure,’ the Doctor said. ‘It’s not safe anywhere. Look at what happened to the three planets, all destroyed.’

‘She’s putting her own planet at risk?’ Yaz asked.

The Doctor shrugged. ‘By the sound of it her planet is nearing destruction anyway, lesser of two evils I guess.’

‘Do you think she was telling the truth?’ Ryan asked. ‘About her planet moving away from the moons. Can a planet move?’

‘I expect the moons are forcing the planet out of orbit,’ the Doctor said, scrunching her face. ‘But I think we better go there just to make absolutely sure she was telling the truth.’

‘Wait… we’re going to the planet of the Mole People?’ Ryan asked excitedly. 

‘Panoram 9, yes we are,’ the Doctor said.

* * *

Back in the TARDIS, Yaz, Graham and Ryan all ran off to shower and change their clothes while the Doctor hovered over the controls. When they came back into the control room there was an almighty racket coming from the speakers in the console and the Doctor was leaning over it, concentrating.

‘What on earth…?’ Ryan said.

‘It’s traffic from the planet,’ the Doctor yelled over the din. ‘I’m just listening, seeing if I can pick up anything that sounds suspect.’

‘Are we here?’ Yaz asked.

The Doctor made a sweeping motion towards the doors and the three humans opened them wide. 

The TARDIS was hovering in space, the planet of Panoram 9 in front of them. The planet was smattered with various shades of red, grey and black but the colours were rich and the five moons hovering in the sky bathed the planet in an ethereal glow.

The noise from the console stopped and the Doctor came over to join them.

‘This is 100 years in the planet’s future,’ she said. ‘100 years after we met Corax.’

‘Hang on, I thought the planet was moving away from the moons and that’s why they needed the battery?’ Graham asked. 

‘Well remembered, Graham,’ the Doctor said. ‘Yes, but the Sterrans sold them a gravitational rig to keep the moons in orbit so they don’t need the battery anymore. They still have it though. They’re analysing it and creating new ways to deliver that powerful energy. Judging from the radio traffic, this whole system is better off now. Air pollution has improved, standards of living is better, poverty is almost a thing of the past.’

‘All because of that tiny thing,’ Ryan said.

‘Yes, and a dash of decency and common sense,’ the Doctor agreed. 

‘Doctor,’ Yaz said, eyeing the Doctor’s clothes, still muddy from their trip in the sewers. ‘Can I just say…’

‘Yes, Yaz?’

‘You stink.’ 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it please send me some love and comments ^_^
> 
> Also I couldn't think of a better title, if anyone can think of another one let me know!


End file.
